China’s Visa-Free Tourism May Lure Travelers into Disputed Sea.

Opening the
Paracels to foreign travelers would help China politically, some analysts say. Beijing
could show people from many countries it has “effective administration” over
the contested sea, said Collin Koh, maritime security research fellow at
Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. Other countries would be
unlikely to hassle China if they knew foreign tourists were at sea, he added.

“It allows China
to assert its sovereignty claim and, not just that, it’s also to highlight that
it does have effective administration over the area,” Koh said. “It actually
gives you additional security, because if you have foreigners from different
countries all over the world in that place, it decreases the chance of any
other people taking rash actions against you.”

Brunei,
Malaysia, Vietnam and the Philippines claim parts of the South China Sea, which
is valued for fisheries and undersea energy reserves. China and Taiwan call the
whole 3.5 million-square-kilometer sea their own.